The Duncan Family (in order of billing):

A 15-year old high school sophomore and, until the new arrival, the middle child of the family. She records a series of video diaries for her baby sister for when she's older, which form a substantial portion of the show's narrative (and where the title comes from). She cares a great deal for her family, even if she isn't great at expressing her affection for some of them, and has a special attachment to her baby sister, Charlie. So far, she appears to be a good student, and is obsessed with most of the things typical of girls her age, preeminently boys.

Future!Charlie:(after her attempt at following Teddy's advice has failed) I really have to watch these things to the very end. It's not over until she says... Teddy:(on the computer screen) Good luck, Charlie.

Amy Duncan (Leigh-Allyn Baker)

The 30-something mother of the Duncan family, who works as a nurse at a hospital. The main source of the show's humor and drama is the rest of the family's often-misguided attempts to help take care of the baby as Amy returns to work. She seems like the Only Sane Man but her ego and Spotlight-Stealing Squad mentality keeps her from this.

Flanderization: Originally she played the role of Only Sane Woman and just occasionally thought of herself as very good at something (like being her school mascot, even her coach agreed she was a great mascot), but by the end of Season 1 it turned into a case of Small Name, Big Ego.

Small Name, Big Ego: Amy likes to think that she's the best at everything she does, and seems to believe that she's a big time star just waiting to be discovered; she once replaced her family (except Charlie) with professionals for a group talent show, which she didn't technically apologize for.

Gabriel P. "Gabe" Duncan (Bradley Steven Perry)

The sarcastic, often dour 10-year old son, who resents Charlie for having usurped his position as the baby of the family, and thus drawing a good deal of attention away from him. His perceptions seem somewhat justified. Continues the proud Danny Bonaduce tradition of looking nothing like the rest of the family.

Charlotte "Charlie" Duncan (Mia Talerico)

The 9-month old (as of the series premiere, currently 4 years old) newest addition to the Duncan family. She begins the series as an infant, not doing much except make noise, pooping and spitting up. Nonetheless, she's extremely cute, and quickly progresses to new milestones, such as making her first attempts at real English words, and taking her first steps. She is whom the series' title comes from.

Aesop Amnesia: In Guys and Dolls Amy tried to help Charlie with her jealousy of Toby, which seemingly worked. Amy pretended to make Toby talk and say that Charlie is his favorite sister. Come Doppel Date however, Charlie wanted Toby to stay in the hotel. Justified she's a toddler.

Character Development: She gets a lot more characterization in seasons 3 and 4. As she grows up, she seems to take after Gabe, who was jealous of her, whereas now Charlie is jealous of Toby. She also appears to be shaping up to be a troublemaker, like Gabe. She's also inherited her mother's ego which has lead Amy and Bob to say she's her mother's daughter.

In Duncan Dream House, for the first time, Charlie was actually right about keeping their old home, and even had her own scene where she talks to her imaginary circle.

If "Futuredrama" is any indication, she grows up to be more like Teddy.

Bob Duncan (Eric Allen Kramer)

The 40-something man of the house. Bob runs his own business as an exterminator. He seems rather absent-minded (not being able to recall Gabe's birthday or where he goes to school), and can be quite clumsy at times. He's also quite fond of his daughter Teddy, and can thus be overprotective of her.

Potty John "PJ" Duncan (Jason Dolley)

The 17-year old eldest child of the family. He's a phenomenal airhead and a horrible student. His passion seems to be playing rock and roll, even though he's not very good at it. He cares a good deal about his family and wants earnestly to do his part in helping raise his baby sister, but his absentmindedness makes this difficult.

Embarrassing First Name: According to his birth certificate, PJ's name is revealed to be "Potty John". Bob tries to get it corrected, but PJ's name is now "PP" Duncan.

Expy: PJ is a grungier, working-class version of Newt Livingston. This is made even more pronounced by the fact that the same actor plays both characters. PJ is probably smarter than Newt, but the characters on this show are smarter too, so it balances out.

Unfortunate Names: PJ's name was supposed to be Patty John, after his grandfather Patrick John, but Bob was so frazzled when signing the birth certificate, that he wrote "Potty John" instead. This is fixed by the end of the episode though. But now it instead reads "PP".

Recurring Characters:

Ivy Wentz (Raven Goodwin)

Teddy's best friend. She hopes some of Teddy's popularity will rub off on her, and she thinks the Duncan family is incredibly strange but more entertaining than her own family. She's also a horrible student who rejoices over receiving her first B.

Mrs. Estelle Dabney (Patricia Belcher)

The Duncans' next-door neighbor. Mrs. Dabney is cranky, unfriendly, and at times, manipulative. Born in 1958 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, she comes from a set of identical quintuplets, none of which are anything like her personality-wise.

Spencer Walsh (Shane Harper)

Teddy's study buddy, love interest, and eventual boyfriend (and then eventual EX-boyfriend). After numerous botched attempts, he finally gives Teddy her first kiss. He comes from a wealthy family, about which he's quite modest, and enjoys hip-hop dancing... oh, yeah, and he's a two-timing jerk. Teddy recently decided to give him a second chance and they're back together.

Character Development: Spencer started out looking like a Satellite Love Interest, but later turned out to be pretty interesting. And then turns out to be a cheating Jerkass. To his credit, Spencer deeply regretted his actions, and has made up with Teddy. They're dating once more.

Did Not Get the Girl: Sadly, in Teddy's Choice, he does not end up with her, this time through no fault of his own.

Mistaken for Cheating: Subverted. Teddy thinks Spencer is cheating on her with Skyler, but then learns from Spencer that she's his cousin. He turns out to be lying. He is cheating on her with Skyler, who believes that Teddy is his cousin.

Official Couple: With Teddy, as of "Charlie Goes Viral", and up until "Girl Bites Dog". Restarted in "Can You Keep a Secret?"

Your Cheating Heart: Turns out Spencer was using the "cousin" excuse to keep Teddy and Skyler from finding out about each other. Doesn't end well for him. For Spencer, this has since become his greatest regret, and it takes a whole season for him to eventually gains Teddy trust while she begins to remember what he meant to her before she fully forgives him enough to take him back.

Jo Keener (G. Hannelius)

A female student in one of Gabe's classes, she constantly threatens and bullies him. It turns out a part of her motivation is being unable to express her crush on him. Not likely to be seen again since the actress has moved onto other projects, namely Dog With A Blog on the same network.

TV Tropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy